In Which Sam Has a Dream ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Danny was looking down at her again, hands clamped securely over her wrists. Not enough pressure to cause pain, just pleasant skin-on-skin contact. He was straddling her like before, their dishevelled sheets balled up against her back.

Sam wasn't sure how she knew they were their sheets, somehow it simply made sense. Strangely, the situation wasn't uncomfortable. In fact…

She smiled up at him, eyelids low as an extremely uncharacteristic hum of contentment echoed out of her chest. She felt oddly peaceful.

When he finally did move, it was slow. Lethargic, almost. Like they had all the time in the world to spend with each other.

He bent towards her, teeth flashing as his lips delicately ghosted the skin at the nape of her neck. Then—

There was a grinding squeal of stubborn brakes and Sam was jolted out of her slumber, reeling as her entire face collided with something hard in front of her.

Groaning, she peeled herself off the faux leather and blinked the sleep from her eyes, the 'hot and heavy' implications of her dream coming back to her with frightening clarity.

She startled again, cheeks flushing darker than the deepest of maroons. "What the fu—"

A nasally, high-pitched feminine voice cut her off, "Excuse me?! There are children present!"

Sam swivelled, trying to get a look at whoever had interrupted her cursing. It was a pasty blonde woman with a wide-eyed toddler nestled in the crux of her lap.

If Sam hadn't already been tomato-coloured, she would've blushed even darker. "Sorry." A few of the buses other passengers shot her annoyed looks, one even turning the volume on their headphones up a few notches. "I meant, uh, what the fudge."

The woman sniffed disdainfully, but seemed to accept Sam's apology. "Just don't do it again."

Before Sam could form an answer, the driver was belting out a last-minute warning, "One more call for—"

A quick glance out the window into the awaiting darkness assured her that she was, in fact, about to miss her stop.

She shot up out of her aisle seat, stumbling her way to the front of the vehicle as her legs were wracked with pins and needles. Stupid cramped bus seats. "Wait! Wait, I get off here."

The driver, who was sporting an impressively hairy pair of eyebrows, simply sighed and popped the swivelling doors open. "Be safe, miss."

"You too. Have a nice night," Sam answered quickly, giving him a wadded-up ball of bills before hobbling down the steep steps, her stiff legs trembling with the effort.

She watched the bus go, its interior lights vanishing into the swirling darkness.

Now, with nothing to distract her, the woman was given the unfortunate opportunity to recall the events of her dream.

Raising her palms to one of the flickering streetlights, she carefully examined her wrists for any sign of bruising. They were completely unblemished. Untouched.

The dream was so vivid; she'd half excepted the shape of Danny's fingers to be pressed into her skin. A thrill of disappointment coursed through her veins at the sight of smooth, pale skin before she could properly smother it.

Wait, disappointment?

"Oh my gosh." The woman groaned, pressing the heel of her hands into her eyes so hard that tiny fireworks bloomed behind her lids. "Did I actually just—" She couldn't even say it out loud.

Resisting the powerful urge to crawl into the gutter and become one with the sewage, Sam turned her body towards Fenton Works and began the quick, three-minute walk from the bus stop to home.

There was light spilling out of the two-story house when she arrived, painting the grass in front with a golden glow.

Sam smiled, lingering for a moment despite the chilly fall air. She couldn't even remember the last time someone had left a light on to accompany her. Probably not since she was a teenager.

Then a dark thought clouded her mind. What if Danny had let Mack stay up? If so, she was going to kill him. Weird bus dream or not.

Quietly as she could, she pushed the door open and slid inside, toeing out of her shoes before stuffing them back onto the rack. Next she pulled her dark hair out of its tie, wincing when it snagged on a few of the tangled strands.

It was the living room light that had been left on, a soft glow emanating from one of the dusty lamps next to the couch.

Sam wasn't looking at the lamp, however. For her attention had been instantly snagged by the Danny snoozing in its illumination.

His upper half was propped up on the arm of the couch, knees drawn to his chest and head lolling. It looked like he'd originally just been sitting there, before sleep sank its claws into him.

She took a stealthy step into the living room, socked feet brushing soundlessly against the carpet. His lips were parted slightly, little wheezing sounds echoing from his chest as each breath rattled in his ribcage.

Initially, her plan had been to wake him, but he seemed far too peaceful to disturb.

"What am I going to do with you, hmm?" She whispered, leaning forward, not sure what was possessing her to do so. After her strange dream, such proximity simply felt natural.

A thick piece of midnight-black hair had fallen into one of his closed eyes. Her hand was moving towards it before the rest of her brain even had time to catch up, delicate fingers gently stroking it out of his face.

Then Danny was bolting upright, eyes flying open as he took in the figure looming over him.

Before she had time to warn him that it was her, not an intruder, his forehead was knocking into her chin with enough force to keel her backwards.

She stumbled, tried, and failed, to catch herself on the arm of the couch, then landed with a heavy thud on the carpet. "Ouch."

The sound of her voice made him pause, large eyes blinking owlishly at her. Then he pressed a hand to the new mark already forming between his brows. "Sam?"

"Hey," The woman in question answered, trying to sound like she hadn't just been sent packing to the floor. "'Sup?"

"What just—" Danny finally looked down, taking in her predicament with that same wide-eyed stare. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'." She crossed her arms over her chest, staying the embarrassed flush from her cheeks with pure force of will. "Mind giving me hand?"

He processed her words for half a second, as if his brain still hadn't finished rebooting. Then it seemed to click.

"Right! 'Course," A large, pale hand entered her field of vision, fingers outstretched.

Gracelessly, she plunked her own hand into his, trying to ignore the odd butterflies attempting to tear their way out of her gut. It was so foreign a sensation that it made her pause; maybe she was coming down with something.

When she didn't say anything, Danny quickly filled the silence as he helped her to her feet. "Sorry 'bout that. I didn't see you there."

Sam wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but his grip on her fingers seemed to linger a second longer than was necessary. "It's alright, I shouldn't have snuck up on you in the dark." Her voice came out in a tight squeak, that same fluttering sensation spreading throughout the rest of her body.

Weird. Maybe she really was getting sick.

When he didn't say anything, she gave their linked hands a pointed look.

"Oh!" The man quickly yanked his back, bringing it up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his neck. "Sorry."

Was he…blushing? Sam couldn't be sure in the poor lighting, but it looked like his large ears were stained a mottled pink.

Goodness; were they all coming down with something?! She knew they should've stocked up on fever relievers when they had the chance.

"It's alright," Sam said again, giving him a concerned once over. He didn't look sick, and had seemed fine that morning. Perhaps it was just a twenty-four-hour bug?

He arched one of his thick brows at her unabashed staring, "What?"

"Do you feel hot?" She asked slowly, propping up onto her tiptoes so she could press the back of her hand to his forehead. "You don't feel hot."

"O-oh." To her surprise, he stumbled backwards out of her reach. His ears were definitely red now. "N-no. I feel fine."

Sam pressed forward again until his legs were backed up against the couch and he had no more room to retreat. "You could be seriously sick. Did you drink enough water today?"

His adam's apple bobbed up and down quickly as he turned his head away from her, fixing his gaze on the whitewashed ceiling above while his lower lip trembled. "Definitely. Lots of water. All the water."

She made a disapproving noise deep in her throat but stepped back anyway, allowing him to sag against the couch. "I guess if you say so…"

"I do say so," The man answered quickly, voice cracking on the last few syllables. He cleared his throat, offering her a sheepish smile. "Thank you, but I really do feel fine."

Sam shrugged, still not entirely sure she believed him. "Okay."

She watched, somewhat amusedly, as he went to put his hands in his pocket, realized he didn't have pockets, and let them hang uselessly by his side before answering, "Okay."

A yawn seized her by force as she stretched, arms creaking. Her long day was evidently catching up with her. "Sorry it took me so long to get back. I ran into Mack's secretary at the park and then some metal ghost thing attacked. That other ghost stopped him, though."

"Is she okay?" He sounded oddly concerned, eyes widening as he took a step towards her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. So is Star—the secretary, that is. She just had low blood sugar."

Again, he looked overly relieved by her proclamation. "That's good."

Sam raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Woah, no!" Danny put his hands up defensively, that same flush returning. She liked the colour on him. "I didn't mean it like that. It's not good that she passed out, it's good you're both okay. Or that you're okay. Actually, especially that you're oka—"

"Nah, man," She punched him in the shoulder, not putting any real force behind it. "I know what you meant. Just messing with you."

He rubbed his arm, "Oh. I have a feeling you and Tucker will get along swimmingly."

Sam barked a laugh. "I'm going to head up to bed before I collapse where I stand. Did Mack go to sleep okay?"

His smile came back full force, softer around the edges as he looked at her. "I had to tell her a couple stories, but she eventually nodded off."

Speaking of nodding off, another yawn pulled at her mouth again and she had no choice but to indulge it. "That's good." Sam looked up at him, that same strangely warm sensation from her dream surfacing in the pit of her stomach.

It wasn't lust—at least, she didn't think it was lust. She'd felt lust before and didn't remember it having such a slow, lulling affect.

She just sort of felt…safe.

Which is why, in the that moment, it seemed so natural to wrap her arms around him, feeling the way they fit around his surprisingly solid torso. "Thank you." She murmured into the fabric of his sweater, "I would've been up the creek if you weren't around."

She felt his chest hitch under her touch, a raggedy exhale stirring the hair on the top of her head. "No problem." He cleared his throat, "No problem at all."

And then she was drawing back reluctantly, trying not to let her strange resistance to ending their embrace show on her face.

The living room air felt too cold on her bare arms now that they weren't wrapped around him, but exhaustion was slowly getting the better of her.

"'Night, Danny." Sam barely managed to smother another yawn before turning to clomp up the stairs.

When he answered, she was already at the top, his voice softer than she'd ever heard it. "Goodnight, Sam."

As she flopped onto her mattress, not even bothering with the mess of blankets, that same warm blossom started spreading in the centre of her stomach.

It was a strange feeling, whatever this was; but she thought perhaps she liked it.

(A/N): *offkey singing* ~Can you feel~the love~tonight~the peace~the evening brings~

Also, guess what? I am a free bird! I am Officially out of my wack-job living scenario, so we should be back to regular (2000+ word) updates from now on :D

Thank you to all your lovely reviews during this time, they are literally the only reason I continue writing this (that, and my pig-headed stubbornness) and I appreciate each and every one of them *throws flowers*! *clumsily dances*! sorry I'm just really happy right now!

Have an awesome day, you awesome people!

~ASL